This is @ZoeStaffsGMPT sixth post in an ongoing series about her life and learning as a probation officer

http://www.russellwebster.com/category/on-probation/

What is a good probation officer? Now that’s a million dollar question. When I was training, my knowledge of criminology theories was constantly tested. Did I know my desistance from my cognitive distortion? Could I spot a pre-contemplative person from one hundred paces? Had I shaken my head with disgust ENOUGH when criticising Lombroso’s theory of criminality. Then, when I started working in the job, there were all these targets to hit to show my awesomeness, like how quickly I could home visit a new address, and whether I could count the amount of supervision sessions I’d had with someone on all my fingers and toes. There were also quality assurance audits to pass (I wonder what delightful creatures do that auditing now…oh, it’s me…) But I guess I’m not really talking about that type of ‘good’ . When I started really thinking about this, and started imagining those colleagues of mine of whom I really admire – it was their way of ‘being and doing’, and the relationships they forged with the people they supervised, that I was so utterly in awe of. How to be good is more than stats and theories. It’s….

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